Italy’s third-largest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, has today beaten analyst expectations with its third-quarter profit as larger rival Intesa Sanpaolo prepares to launch a buyout offer to take it over.
MPS became the target of a €34 billion cash-and-share bid by Intesa in June. Intesa, Italy’s biggest bank, will need to break up MPS’s branch network to address competition issues.
Last week MPS shareholders rejected a defence plan of CEO Luigi Lovaglio after Intesa upped its offer and threatened to walk away, securing the backing of the Tuscan bank’s biggest investor, Italy’s Del Vecchio family.
The bank said its net profit in the July-September period rose to €543m, above a €533m company-provided analyst consensus forecast.
Revenue also topped expectations, at €2 billion.
Intesa is expected to kick off the tender phase of its offer in the week of November 23.
